


Look After You (Dean x reader)

by revengingbarnes



Category: Supernatural, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arthritis, Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain, F/M, Fluff, Hunters & Hunting, Hurt/Comfort, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 08:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18362204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revengingbarnes/pseuds/revengingbarnes
Summary: The reader is chronically ill with arthritis. After a hunt, her symptoms aggravate. Dean takes care of her.





	Look After You (Dean x reader)

You were grateful for the silence, because it helped you focus on not screaming. **  
**

You tried to breathe slowly and deeply, doing your best to not reach down and squeeze your knee. The pain pierced through the joint, acute and intense, making you clench your jaw and screw your eyes shut.

In the front seat of the car, Dean was grunting every few minutes, holding his side. He was leaning heavily against the passenger door while Sam drove. Very rarely did Dean allow Sam to drive, and it only happened in situations like this, when Dean was physically not able to steer the wheel on Baby. He grunted again as you leaned your head back, looking up at the car’s roof and trying to not touch or squeeze your swollen joint.

The hunt had been a long and grueling one. The nest was more extensive than any of you anticipated, and even between the three of you, you were severely outnumbered. It had taken an entire afternoon of running around in a dense forest surrounding the farmhouse serving as the nest. None of that running did you any favors, considering how much your knees had started to hurt. Normally, physical activity didn’t bother you much. You could easily go a couple of hours on foot without rest. But almost an entire day of running, jumping and falling? You had overworked yourself for sure. Hence your knees screaming at you now while you drove back to the motel.

Sam slowly dragged Dean into the room when you finally got there, and you had to bite your tongue and let him take the first bath. You needed the warm water desperately, the only thing to straighten your stiff joints. Instead, you helped Sam strip Dean and place him in the bathtub to let him soak.

You lowered yourself on the bed then, trying your hardest to not whimper in pain. Sam looked over at you after having cleaned himself up, taking in your expression.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked, walking closer to you. “Did you get hurt?”

You shake your head, smiling a bit. “I’m fine, really. Just tired.”

Sam nodded slowly. “You’re sure?”

You waved your hand in dismissal. “Yeah, yeah. Go check on Dean.”

You watched Sam comply and leave the room, making you sigh. You didn’t like keeping something like this from the boys, especially because you had been hunting with them for a while now. But you knew what they would do if they found out you had arthritis. They’d flip shit, especially Dean. They’d try and stop you from hunting. And worst of all, they would look at you with pity in their eyes.

You dreaded that. You hated being pitied or looked down on. So what if you had arthritis? You had never let it slow you down before, and you’d be damned if you stopped now.

Fifteen minutes later, Dean was finally out of the bath, and you scrambled to draw yourself one too. You nearly cried in relief when the warmth soaked into your knees. You slowly caressed your fingers over the joints, moving them slowly and letting them loosen.

It was only when you were in bed later on in the night that you realized that this attack might be more serious than any normal routine irritation after a hunt. The bath had relieved you momentarily but the pain was starting to intensify again. The medication hadn’t started to kick in yet. You sat up where you lay, looking around the dark motel room, eyes falling on a sleeping Sam snoring in the bed next to yours. You looked to your right at the lump of a human next to you, even breaths showing you that Dean was deep in slumber too. You tried to stay still as you slightly flexed your knees, trying to not let your shifting wake Dean up. He was severely banged up. He needed the rest.

As slowly and quietly as you could, you got off the bed and to a chair across the room. You managed to scrounge up an ice pack to place on your bare knee that was now a throbbing, angry red. You gritted your teeth at the initial sting before slowly closing your eyes and leaning against the table before you. You alternated between your knees, feeling the swelling die down a bit. It was still a long way to go, but it was a start.

“Y/N?” You nearly jumped at the sound, watching Dean shift and lift his head up towards you. “What are you doing up?”

“Uh…” You saw Dean’s eye lock on the ice pack on your knee, eyebrows furrowing.

“You hurt yourself?” He groaned as he sat up, making you shake your head quickly.

“Just a little bump. Dean lay down, will you? You need to rest.”

“I’m fine. Let me see.” Before you could protest, Dean was already clambering out of bed and over to you, kneeling down next to where you sat.

“You’re going to rip your stitches.” You tried to argue. “Can you please go back to bed? I’m fine, really.”

Dean ignored your words, pulling the ice pack away. He recoiled a little at the sight of your swollen and red knee, eyes widening. He looked at the other one, finding it in the same condition.

“What the hell? Y/N, this looks bad.” He touched it a bit, immediately pulling away when the action made you flinch. “We need to get someone to look at this.”

You sighed. “I’ll be fine.”

He looked up at you then, giving you a flabbergasted look. “Your knee looks like it went twelve rounds with a block of cement. How are you so calm?”

Sam shifted in his sleep, making your head jerk towards him. When he settled once more, you looked back at Dean.

“I know what I’m doing.” You whispered. “This has happened before. I know how to deal with it.”

Dean stared at you a bit, then back down to your knee, frowning at it as if deep in thought.

“The medication? It was for this?” He asked.

You looked at him in surprise, eyebrows raising in question. He gave you a look.

“We practically live together, Y/N. You think you can hide that many pills?”

You sighed, shrugging. You always did think Dean was too smart to not notice that.

“So what is it?” He asked, shifting the ice pack to your other knee.

“Arthritis.” You mumbled. Dean nodded slowly, deep in thought.

“And it’s always the knees?”

You nodded slowly. “Mostly, yeah. Sometimes the ankles too. But that’s rare for me.”

“And what helps?”

You gestured towards what he was doing. “Ice packs, warm showers, some herbal ointments. And the meds, of course.”

Dean pursed his lips. “You took your meds?”

“Yeah.”

“And what about these ointments?”

You shrugged. “You rub them on.” You pointed to your duffel. “A white tube in there.”

Dean nodded one last time, grunting as he got to his feet.

“Dean, your stitches-”

“I’ll live.” He cut you off, hobbling to your bag and ruffling through it until he found the ointment.

“Get on the bed.” He gestured, making you raise an eyebrow.

“I’m trying to do something nice, okay? Don’t make me regret the offer.”

You snorted and obeyed his command then, lying on the bed you two shared. Sam was still asleep, starfished on his bed. It was one of the reasons you chose to share a bed with the elder Winchester when you three got stuck in the same room. Sam just didn’t leave enough space for the two of you. And Dean never complained.

You hissed when the cold gel touched your bare skin before relaxing under Dean’s hands. He was surprisingly gentle for someone who killed for a living. His fingers didn’t feel rough with years of punching and cutting. In fact, they were surprisingly soft.

“I can do this myself, you know.” You mumbled, relaxed tone betraying your tough words.

“Shut up and go to sleep.” Dean whispered back, making you snicker.

You both were silent while Dean finished applying the medicine, shuffling around a bit before laying back down next to you. When his movement stopped and he settled next to you, he spoke again.

“I get why you didn’t tell me.” He said. “I understand that. But just so you know, you know yourself better than I know you. So if you’re hunting despite this, it means you know you can. And I’m not going to stop you. It’s your choice.”

You turned your head to look at him then. The streetlight shining in from the window accentuated the sharp lines of Dean’s face, making him look almost divine under it. You wouldn’t deny that it made your heart skip, being so close to him.

“I’m surprised.” You replied. “I was sure you would go apeshit when you found out.”

Dean huffed out a laugh, shrugging. “I guess I’m hopped up on pain meds.” He turned his head to you, winking.

You laughed again, turning to look at the ceiling once more.

“Hey,” he nudged you, making you look at him again. Your eyes flicked to his lips for only a brief second. He was so close. So close.

“You’ll let me take care of you, okay?” He whispered. “Not because I pity you or any of that crap. But because you deserve it every once in a while.”

You gave him a smile. “Look at that. The older Winchester’s going all soft on me.”

Dean smirked. “I was always soft on you, sweetheart.”

You raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore the warmth spreading on your face. Dean’s eyes were roaming over your features, and it made your breath hitch. He’d never looked at anyone like that before. And you would know, you looked at him like that all the time. You knew what that look meant, and instantly, a smile slowly made its way onto your face.

The angry pain in your knees was long forgotten.


End file.
